


To Have a Home

by ticklishblaine (lightsandsparks)



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Kitten!CrissColfer, Kittens, LITTLE TINY KITTIES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 02:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4417814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightsandsparks/pseuds/ticklishblaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CrissColfer as kittens. Need I say more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Have a Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luckie_dee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckie_dee/gifts).



> Inspired by [this kitten cam](livestream.com/tinykittens/eve) (The kittens all went home this morning, though)  
> For [luckiedee](luckiedee.tumblr.com), who sent me that link last night and had me staring at kitten!cc for way longer than I should have. Hope you enjoy, because this is all your fault.  
> Also thanks to Sarah [lovetheblazer](lovetheblazer.tumblr.com) for the plot-bunny, title, and quick beta. She’s kind of fucking amazing, guys.

Darren liked living at the shelter. He really, really did. 

However, if you asked the other kittens he shared the small space with, they would probably disagree. Even though the humans that worked there were so nice and took them all out of their cages to play in a big room with lots of toys every day, they still didn’t like it. Darren couldn’t figure out why.

He had lived at the shelter for most of his life, but it might as well been his _whole_ life because he couldn’t remember anything before that. Darren knew that he used to have a mom and even some brothers and sisters. He knew because he had heard the humans talking about them, about how he was something called a “runt” and had been “abandoned”. He didn’t know what those words meant, but he knew they weren’t good. 

When he asked the adults cats what a “runt” was, they told him that it meant he was too small when he was born and that his mom didn’t want to take care of him because of it. This made Darren sad, but it was okay because the humans always took such good care of him; they were nice and they always groomed him and fed him the same way that his mom would have, so he was still very happy.

His best friend Chris wasn’t so happy, though. He didn’t like the shelter; he said it was too crowded and loud and the other kittens were always mean to him when they all got together in the big room to play. Darren didn’t understand this, either. Chris was nice and pretty and his fur was so soft that every time they curled up together for a nap Darren fell right asleep right away. How could anybody not like Chris?

Darren always stood up for him, though. Any time another kitten called Chris a name or hissed at him, Darren gave them a piece of his mind. He’d puff his fur out to try to look more intimidating and tell them to leave Chris alone. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t. It didn’t matter though; if the other kittens didn’t want to be friends with Chris, then that meant Darren got to have Chris all to himself.

Their favorite game to play was hide and seek. There were lots of boxes and scratching posts to hide in, and Darren was a really good hider. Chris always told him it was unfair, because Darren was so small and his fur was black so he blended in with the darkness better than Chris could with his light tan coat. Darren knew Chris was right about this, so if he “accidentally” stuck his tail out of his hiding place sometimes, it was worth it to see the excited little pounce Chris gave whenever he found Darren.

They always had so much fun on afternoons like that and Darren was always sad whenever they had to go back to their cages. Darren’s cage was lonely; even with his blanket it was too big and cold and nothing felt as nice as falling asleep curled up against Chris’ back, so needless to say he didn’t usually sleep very well.

One afternoon, after the humans had given him his breakfast and had set him and his friends down in the playroom, Darren found Chris on the big couch in the corner, looking even sadder than usual. Darren felt his fur immediately puff up - if the other kittens were being mean to Chris again, he was probably going to have to use his claws to teach them a lesson this time.

“What’s wrong, Chris?” Darren asked, laying down next to his friend, tucking his feet under his chest and snuggling against Chris’ side.

“Didn’t you hear what the humans said today?” Chris asked, sounding on the verge of tears. “They said that I’m old enough to go home now. Pretty soon, a stranger is going to come and take me away from you.”

 _Oh_. Now he knew why Chris was sad; Darren didn’t want to go home with a human either because that would mean leaving all of his friends at the shelter behind. And even though the older cats told him that he should want to go to a forever home, Darren couldn’t imagine never seeing Chris again. 

In fact, Darren was starting to get scared, because a few strangers had already been by his cage. They had plucked him out of the corner where he had been trying to hide, talking too loudly and petting him so hard that it hurt his fur. Luckily, they put him back after a few minutes, saying something about how he was “too small” and that “runts aren’t worth their health problems.” Darren still didn’t know what that meant, but if it kept the humans from taking him away then he definitely agreed with it.

But Chris wasn’t a runt. Even though he was younger than Darren, he was still a bit bigger, and the humans that worked at the shelter always talked about how “healthy” he was. Plus, he was fluffy with big blue eyes and he was so, so fun to play with. Chris was sure to get chosen right away and this made Darren very worried and sad.

“Maybe if you pretend to be a runt, they won’t want you?” Darren wondered. “That’s why they don’t want me.”

Chris shook his head. “I don’t think you can pretend to be a runt. I think it’s something you’re born with.”

“Oh,” Darren sighed. Now he really didn’t know what to do. He moved closer and started grooming his ear the way Chris had always loved, hoping it would cheer him up.

It didn’t. Darren could tell that Chris was still very sad. “Do you wanna play?” Darren tried. “The humans have a new feathery stick over there - we could try to catch it before anyone else does.”

Chris just laid his head down, closing his eyes. “Maybe later.”

Darren put his head down too, resting it on Chris’ back. He didn’t feel much like playing today, either.

\--

The next morning, Darren woke up with a plan, and it was a plan he knew was definitely going to work. His plans _always_ worked, so why would this time be any different?

He had been watching the older cats for the past few days and he’d noticed something. Whenever a new human came to bring them out of their cage, some of them would hiss and scratch and even bite and this always made the humans very mad. They would put the older cat back right away and move on to the next cage, never coming to bother them again. 

The cats that got taken home were nice and always purred when they were petted and loved to snuggle. So if Darren and Chris just did the opposite of all of that, if they just acted like the mean older cats, then they wouldn’t be taken away from each other and they would get to play together every day! Chris already didn’t purr much, or at all, really. So he was already halfway there. 

The next time a human came by his cage, Darren was ready. As soon as the unfamiliar face appeared, it smiled at him, picking at the lock on his cage which Darren knew meant they were getting ready to take him out. But he was ready; as soon as his door swung open he bared his claws, immediately swatting at the big hand that began to reach for him and even throwing a menacing hiss in there for good measure. 

And it worked, just as Darren knew it would. The hand flew out of his cage just as quickly as it had appeared, the metal gate slamming shut and the human suddenly disappearing, walking to the cage next to Darren’s. He gave a triumphant little pounce, happy to know that staying with Chris forever could really be this easy.

That afternoon, when they got to the playroom, Darren told Chris all about his new plan.

“Really? That’s all I have to do?” Chris asked, looking at Darren a bit hesitantly.

“Sure! It’s easy. Just don’t let them hold or pet you for too long, and make sure you puff yourself  out to look big and scary. Humans hate that.”

“I don’t think that’s why the human didn’t pick you, Darren. You’re not big or scary.”

Darren lunged for Chris, pinning him to the ground and nipping at his ear playfully. “Trust me. Just act completely different from how you normally do and they’ll never take you away. This is going to be great!”

The next morning, Darren woke up to loud, wailing cries.

Usually, this was something that happened every day. The other cats and kittens didn’t like their cages; they hated them as much as they hated the shelter itself. But these cries were different - they weren’t the usual complaints of “I’m hungry” or “Let me out!” No.

These cries were different because they belonged to Chris.

Darren jumped up and scurried to the front of his cage, frantically trying to see what was going on. His heart sped up in fear when he figured saw it; Chris was wriggling in the arms of a little girl human who didn’t look she intended to let go of him any time soon.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” an older girl human that was probably her mother cooed gently. “I’m sure he’s just scared. He’ll settle down once we get him home.”

 _Home_. Darren panicked. He jumped up, leaning his forepaws on the metal gate of his cage and mewling desperately. “Chris, scratch her! Bite her! Do something!” he wailed as loud as he possibly could, more frightened than he’d ever been in his whole eight weeks of life.

Chris just squirmed, his eyes meeting Darren’s in fear. He didn’t respond, just kept crying and Darren couldn’t really blame him because he wouldn’t be able to scratch or bite a little human, either. It was just too mean.

So Darren did the only thing he could think of - he began crying too.

“Aww, look!” the little girl human said once Darren had been howling long enough for her to notice. “He has a friend!”

The little girl ran up to Darren’s cage, holding Chris up to Darren’s eye level. They immediately started pawing for each other, Chris’ claws latching onto the metal and not letting go while Darren pressed his nose in between the bars, trying to communicate with these humans that they absolutely could not take his very best friend away from him.

The older women human came up behind the little girl, opening the latch on Darren’s cage. As soon as the door was open, Chris finally managed to wriggle out of the little girl’s hands. He dove towards Darren and the two of the immediately bolted to the back corner, curling up against each other trying to make themselves as small as possible. Darren hoped they were doing a good job of hiding even though Chris still wasn’t a very good hider.

“Aww Mommy. They don’t want to leave each other. Can’t we take both of them home?”

Darren’s ears perked up at that. He hadn’t considered this, but it was the perfect solution. Going home with humans would be fun if he and Chris got to do it together!

“I suppose so,” the girls mother answered after a moment. “They do seem to be very good friends, don’t they?”

“Did you hear that, Chris?” Darren asked, nudging Chris with his forehead. “She wants to take us both home! We don’t have to leave each other!”

Chris looked up, blinking his blue eyes and still looking a little scared. “But what if we don’t like our new home? What if it’s even bigger or louder or scarier than this place?”

“We’ll like it, Chris. And if we don’t, we can run away together! But let’s make sure we really don’t like it a whole lot first, okay? Running away will take a lot of planning on my part.”

Chris nodded. Together, the two of them got up and cautiously made their way to the front of the cage where the little girl was still waiting for them patiently. Darren was happy to find that she didn’t reach out or try to grab them. She just stood there smiling and looking just as happy and excited as Darren was beginning to feel.

“Did you hear that, kitties? You’re going to get adopted, just like me! You’ll really like your new home. I was scared when I first went there, too. But my mommies are really nice and so am I! I promise!”

Darren and Chris left the shelter in another big cage, and that part was a little scary. They had never seen the outside before, and going for a ride in what the humans called a “car” was weird because they felt like they were being carried somewhere really, really, fast and they couldn’t stand up or keep their balance. But that was okay, because snuggling up together was always nice and it made them feel safe even though they were both a little nervous for what was coming.

When they got to their new home, they were happy to find that the little girl played with them all afternoon. She had lots of toys for them; she let them chase her feather stick all around the house even though the house was really big and they were sometimes afraid of getting lost. She fed them both yummy treats that tasted so much better than the food they ate at the shelter, and after dinner she even spent extra time brushing Darren’s coat, the very same way that he knew his mom would do if she were still here. Maybe even better. 

They were all having so much fun that Darren and Chris didn’t even notice when it had gotten dark outside. This had been the part that Darren was nervous for; would the little girl put Darren and Chris in two separate cages like the humans at the shelter did every night? 

It would make sense. They always played in the playroom in the afternoon and had lots of fun, but at the end of the day they always wound up alone and cold and Darren was definitely going to start planning their escape if that’s what the little girl did to them tonight.

But Darren needn’t have worried, because at bedtime they got to sleep in a big bed, bigger than either of them had ever seen before. It was so big that the little girl even slept there, too. But the most important part was that Darren was there with Chris, the two of them curled up in warm blankets against her feet, snuggled together just like they’d always done at the shelter. 

But this time it was even better. Because Darren was so, so happy and he had a feeling Chris was feeling the very same way right now, too.

When Darren first heard it, he thought he was only dreaming. He had been half asleep after all, and sometimes when he heard noises at night they turned out to only be part of a dream he just woke up from. 

But usually dream-noises didn’t also come with dream-feelings. He could feel something under his chest and it took him a moment to realize that he was actually laying completely on top of Chris. The feelings and the noises were coming from him and- was Chris...?

“Chris?” Darren called softly, unsure if his friend was still awake or not.

“Yeah?” Chris asked immediately, his voice very much not groggy or sleepy-sounding.

“Are you... purring?” Darren asked, lowering his ear so that he could get a better listen to the side of Chris’ chest and yep, that was purring. Darren was hearing Chris purr! For the very first time!

“Oh uh, yeah I-” Chris shifted, seeming a little embarrassed but Darren could hear the smile in his voice. “I guess I am.”

“Does this mean you’re...?”

“Yeah.” Chris answered right away, sounding very sure. “I’m really, really happy right now, Darren.”

Darren buried his nose in Chris neck, curling up tighter and feeling his own purring begin to start up. “That’s good, because so am I.”

“So... does this mean we won’t be running away anytime soon?” Chris asked as he continued to purr, the sound getting even louder as Darren yawned against the soft fur of his belly.

“Probably not. Let’s see what she feeds us for breakfast tomorrow, then we’ll talk.”

“That sounds like a good plan to me.”


End file.
